The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-07-09

| al millions Of miles minute. comes
speeding down To his Office windows
daily, but the grimy glass fetches IL up
at short notice and admits 1t into the
! composing room utterly subdued. Here
| weekly he launches forth columns of
such verbose length that he seems,
with every issue, to have exhausted
his vocabulary and have nothing to
look forward to but a future Of verbal
insolvency, If not actual ruin; writes
articles in the first person plural as II
no possessed the power of attorney for
his entire parish, and editorials which
are moral mustard plaster. or else
seem 10 have blossomed out of his
inner consciousness, AS flower from
its calyX.
To this same SuUcttt3a come the mauy
barnacles OF an editorial ship, whom
he cares about AS much for as South
Sea Islander, but whom no must grecl
with rapiurous effusion aud .'putr' NC-
cordsngty. Therefore, when sonnet imcs
he gels notice himself In contempora-
neous journals, he must be pardOned II
he repubitshes II, considering ii rs 80
! much wages due on account Of his
ta'taiul services to mankind. We all
say we look forward to our reward in
Heaven, but are, nevertheless, might
'iy pleased at an anticipatory bonus of
commentator here on earth.
Alone at night in the misty recesses
of his office, whose only sounds ema-
nate from maraudtng rodent nibbtinr
its way through the yellowing back
issues, or predatory roach sampliug
the intoxicating delights of tho paste.
1.
faber, does more towards building up
u community than the actual lahorers
therein, those "hewcrs of wood and
drawers of water" on whom tho credit
falls; helps the cause Of religion with
every ennobling article hung on tho
copy nook; pleads for the manned and
halt, and uses this same pencil as an
intellectual bis'oni, ever seeking to
extirpate moral lessons. His columns
arc always open TO the cry of the op.
pressed, and no gives annually thous-
ands OF zee lines which, IL charged for.
would amount to rather u neat sum
If he were ever able to collect II. Asa
slight compensation for his many
trials, ne is blessed with few prlyi-
legcs not accorded other mortals, az II
some benign deit. y had presided at the
bedside of ye scribe when his baby
lips first gave forth their feeble protest
against being ushered into this world
of woe and due bills. Prominent
among these fairy gfs has heretofore
been the i'ec-pass system, whereby he
was enabled to make occasional jaunts
into naighboring States and initict his
subscribes tho following week with
eloquent reports, under glowing head
lines, descriptive of tho trip. Now,
alas! he must travel con his shape"
tho Interstate commerce bill having
prohibited the other method. We G., led
"Pass ~ 80 long, that the government
has ordered them all up, and that's
the long and short (hauD of It,
Another, and much appreciated
one, Is his membership OF State Press
Association, which affords him an
annual holiday rep!ete with enjoyment,
during which no .csmcn's old friend
ships, and TO ms new ones with men
hitherto only known though the me-
dunn Of tho exchange table. / need
scarcely sta q how much pleasure he
derives from these occasions, giving
himself over to II good time generally,
putting on his "besi bib ana iucker,D
and distributing broadcast highly -orna-
menicd cards, home-printed, with
name and address, "Iiditor OF tho
Bungtown BugIe," inscribed thereon,
as though the Buaic were ST 'uck Off
daily from some pondcrous, eight-cyl-
indcr Invention, instead of emanating
dtn dingy press-ro0fus, fcstooned with
cobwcbs, job-proofs, second hand copy,
and oH.coior towels from which, like
Ichubod, The glory has departed.
And the cdi.or'5 wife--thut muteIy
suffering wOman-who sees her "bcst
room" tit cred with exchanges and
.5pe wri, IN circulars, and who lives
in chronic state OF sweeping up ubi-
qpitous clippings; who nightly waits
with uncoInplaining patience her licgc
lords return from tho Office, aud helps
him pore over with patent medicine
and garden seed propositions, and tho
numerous other Improbable H,pedi.
U'n,iM Of AN editorial lock box may
she reap her reward in that other land
where the advertising agent cease to
trouble and the exchange iend is at
rest
Poor country editors! The butt OF
mediocre witticisms, they fulfil
grmndcr IN ission than their Sc elfi;nposcd
critics in moulding or determining the
public mind, and arc often given the
reward Of appreciation only when tho
ciang of the press and the click Of the
type is lost II them forever.
Then their faul are "set up" in